Judge rejects arguments that Anglo students' constitutional rights were violated by UT's 'narrowly tailored' use of race in its undergraduate admissions.

Published 4:38 pm, Tuesday, August 18, 2009

An Austin federal court judge this week upheld the University of Texas at Austin's use of race as a criteria in its undergraduate admissions process.

It also dismissed a 2008 lawsuit filed by two Anglo high school seniors denied admission.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks found the university followed law set in the landmark Supreme Court case Grutter vs. Bollinger, and that "UT's consideration of race in admissions is narrowly tailored."

In a statement, Southwest regional counsel Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in San Antonio said, "The court's ruling sends a strong message to universities across the nation that race can still be a factor when considering applications for admissions."

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UT argued that "diversity is a compelling interest," and that it uses the state's race-neutral top 10 percent law in its admissions process. That law guarantees state-university admission to the top 10 percent of students graduating from state high schools. UT also uses other criteria, including race, in its admission process.

"UT considers race in its admissions process as a factor of a factor of a factor of a factor," Sparks said in his 43-page opinion.

The lawsuit, filed by Abigail Fisher of Sugar Land and Rachel Michalewicz of Buda, said their rights were violated under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It was the first challenge to UT's undergraduate admissions process since the Grutter decision, said Patti Ohlendorf, UT's vice president for legal affairs.

"There was a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights regarding the same issue," Ohlendorf said. "The Office for Civil Rights closed that complaint after the lawsuit was filed."

Sparks opinion noted that, "Hispanic students remain underrepresented at UT when their student population as a percentage of the entire UT population is compared to Texas' Hispanic and Latino population."

The opinion cited a study that found that in 2002, 90 percent of classes with five to 24 students had one or no African American students. It also found that 43 percent of classes had one or zero Hispanic students.